Fantasy sports: Money indeed is buying success in baseball

Saturday

May 17, 2014 at 11:20 PMMay 17, 2014 at 11:57 PM

Josh Bousquet Fantasy Sports

Living in America (cue the James Brown earworm), we waver between embracing capitalism and the Horatio Alger myth that says all the little people can prove their virtue and gain the attention of their betters.

In most situations, comfort levels land in the middle, and that is the case when it comes to how these competing dynamics impact baseball franchises.

We may want to cheer for little guy, but it's tough to back the absolute minimalist approach of the Astros that has left them with a payroll in the area of $50 million and battling for the worst record in the majors. Even at that level, one has to imagine the Houston brass is wondering who decided that Scott Feldman should make $12 million this year, seeing as the starting pitcher has more seasons with double-digit losses than double-digit wins.

On some level, it's also possible to respect the financial chutzpah of the Dodgers that has led to them assuming the biggest payroll in the history of the sport. It makes it tougher to really pull for them, though, for if they win, it just seems like a self-fulfilling prophecy.

And they have been winning. Entering a weekend series with the Diamondbacks, they were 22-20 and in third place in the National League West.

Third place may not seem great, but it would have been good for the league's second wild-card spot, and things may be improving on the mound for the high spenders.

Clayton Kershaw entered the season as the consensus best pitcher in the game and went to Australia in March and won a game against the Diamondbacks that MLB insists still counts. He then was off the field through all of April with a shoulder injury.

He has made two starts in May, though, going seven innings in each and allowing only three earned runs total. So in three total starts, he is 2-0 with 25 strikeouts in 20 innings, a 1.74 ERA and 1.06 WHIP. That has to be worth a few more wins over the course of the season now that he's back in the rotation.

Josh Beckett was much more of a question mark for the Dodgers, since he only got in eight starts in 2013, going 0-5 with a 5.19 ERA. He then went through surgery that included having a rib removed before coming back this season.

The comeback looked like it could be short, though, when Beckett gave up five runs, four earned, in only four innings in a loss to the Tigers. In six starts since, though, he has given up only eight total runs, seven of them earned.

Beckett's endeavors went largely unnoticed, though, for he did not get his first win of the season until May 13 — his first since the 2012 season even — making his record just 1-1 through seven starts.

He has provided a good sample size of 41 innings, though, striking out 40 batters with a 2.38 ERA, 1.06 WHIP and opponents are only hitting .199 against him. Those become ace numbers if the Dodgers scored enough to get him a few more wins. Owned in less than half of ESPN fantasy leagues, this may be the time to add him to your squad.

The most intriguing fantasy pitcher in the Dodgers' rotation, though, may be Zack Greinke. It is impossible for anyone to really challenge Kershaw's overall numbers, but Greinke is putting together a level of consistency that makes owners happy. There is nothing more joyous than never dealing with a bad outing.

After throwing eight innings Friday in a win against the Diamondbacks, Greinke had not had a bad one in a while, going 21 straight regular-season games allowing less than three earned runs. Add in a few postseason starts from October, and the streak even hits 24 games (see chart).

Granted, this number may be a tad misleading. On May 5, Greinke gave up two runs in only three innings against the Nationals when he did not come back out for the fourth after a rain delay of more than three hours.

At the same time, though, one can extend the look back on Greinke's performances and inflate the numbers further in the positive direction. The streak starts with a game against the Yankees last July 30. On July 25, Greinke gave up four runs in seven innings to the Reds, but even that is part of a four-game stretch in which he only allowed five runs in 29 innings.

It may be especially tough in this region to cheer for the big, bad spenders when the Yankees had the majors' top payroll every year from 2001-13. It was much more fun to pretend we had to pull ourselves up by the bootstraps to accomplish something, even as we spent much more money than most teams.

Now, though, it is time to put those feelings aside and look at the new spending king and start to appreciate that the squad may be set up to do great things.